Summer-born children 'allowed to delay start of school'

Guidance from the Department for Education says that summer-born children can
start school reception classes at the age of five – rather than the usual
age of four – but parents' groups say it does not go far enough

The DfE says parents of summer born children can request a later school start amid fears they are more likely to struggle in formal lessons.Photo: PA

Schools are being told to allow summer-born children to delay starting education for a year amid fears among parents that early entry can damage pupils’ development.

Updated guidance from the Department for Education says families have the legal right to request that children with birthdays between April and August can start school in the reception year at the age of five instead of four.

Currently, many schools allow summer-born children to be admitted later than their peers but often demand that pupils go straight into Year 1 – skipping the reception class altogether.

It means these children effectively miss out on almost 12 months of early schooling and may face a tough introduction to formal lessons.

But DfE guidelines – affecting around 250,000 children a year – say it is “unlawful” for a school or council to impose a blanket ban on summer born pupils starting a year later.

Guidance says admissions chiefs must make decisions on a case-by-case basis by taking into account whether “delayed social, emotional or physical development is adversely affecting [children's] readiness for school”.

The move comes amid a rise in the number of parents complaining that requests for a later start are being rejected by schools.

Figures show that children born towards the end of the academic year are significantly more likely to struggle at school than pupils born between September and December.

Almost two thirds of children with summer birthdays fail to meet minimum expected levels in areas such as reading, writing, speaking, maths and listening compared with less than a third of those born in the autumn.

On average, children who are young for their year also typically do worse at GCSEs and are less likely to get into university.

Experts claim some children struggle because they have been pushed into lessons before being given time to properly develop in the vital early years.

But the guidance – first issued last summer and updated this week – has been condemned by parents’ groups who claim it fails to go far enough.

Although the document says there are “no statutory barriers to admitting a child of five to a reception class”, schools retain the right to reject a parent's request.

It also says parents “do not have a right of appeal if they have been offered a place and it is not in the year group they would like”.

Pauline Hull, a mother-of-two from Farnham, Surrey, has been battling to get her son into a chosen school after deciding to enrol him in a reception class at the age of five rather than four.

But she has been told the move is not possible because the local council only grants a request if children have special needs.

“It’s an individual choice for parents, but personally I don’t think he’s ready for a formal curriculum yet,” she said. “The fact is that the reception year is different to what it used to be – much more emphasis on learning to read and write – and I don’t think he is going to thrive in that environment yet.

“The Government may say parents have the legal right to this, but when it comes to the crunch nothing happens. What parent is going to take the chance?

“It means they are forced to put their children in school earlier than they want because they’re scared of being left without a place at all.”

Mrs Hull, who has started a campaign group – Flexible School Admissions for Summer Born Children – said the formal school admissions code should be rewritten to force schools to admit children later rather than just consider a request.

Speaking in the Commons earlier this year, David Laws, the Schools Minister, said the Government was “keeping the matter under close review” and would “take action if we find that schools are not paying attention to parental demand”.

Currently, most children start school reception classes in the September after their fourth birthday. By law, they must be in some form of education by the September after they turn five, when most children then move into Year 1.

But the guidance says that “flexibilities exist for children whose parents do not feel they are ready to begin school” at the age of four. This includes summer born children – officially classed as those with birthdays between April 1 and August 31 – who are young for their year.

Parents can request their child attends part-time in the reception year or join later in the academic year – usually January or April.

But the guidance says children can also delay a whole year and enter reception classes in the September after their fifth birthday – effectively making them the oldest for the year group instead of the youngest.

It says there are “no statutory barriers to admitting a child of five years to a reception class”, adding: “It would be unlawful for an admission authority to have a blanket policy which says that summer born children who start school in the September after their fifth birthday will be admitted to Year 1.”

Schools or local councils must make a decision based on the “needs of the child and the possible impact of entering Year 1 without having first attended the reception class”.

It says they should consider whether a child was born prematurely and may have “naturally fallen into the lower age group if they have been born on the expected date of birth”.

A DfE spokesman said: “It has always been the case that summer-born children have been able to join reception class in the year they turn six.

“It is for admissions authorities to decide whether to accept parents’ requests for this, and it is right that these decisions are taken locally in the best interests of children and parents.”